Weird problem

Thread View: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt

2 messages

[T] Back to Threads [V] Tree View [G] Group Articles

2 total messages Started by cazevedo Tue, 07 Nov 2000 00:00

#573

Author: cazevedo
Date: Tue, 07 Nov 2000 00:00

40 lines
3456 bytes

Hello,

I have a notebook Olivetti Echos 1200 with Phoenix's NoteBIOS 4.0 (don't
know the release version though). Lately I had to reformat the hard
drive and reinstall all the software. I followed verbatim the procedures
stated in the manual (used the original CD for Windows95, and all the
original drivers and chose the "Portable" installation option) but I got
some weird problems:

1) The sound card (ESS 1878) has two (!) DMA entries, which stops it
from working. The Device Manager identifies a hardware conflict (yellow
circle with exclamation point) but then, when I try to set the resources
manually, there are no conflicts listed. Assigning this two DMAs
different values (e.g. DMA 0 and DMA 3) which aren't used by any other
peripherals doesn't solve the problem either. Sometimes I manage to get
the sound card working, but then I lose the parallel port (it can still
recognize that something is attached to it, but it simply won't
communicate).

2) Windows insists on installing the drivers for an InfraRed port that
my PC doesn't have. If I choose not to install the drivers, Windows sets
a new PCMCIA device, which prevents me from using the modem, and I lose
COM2...

I tried to install Windows98, but it didn't help: in fact, what Win98
did was automatically assign two DMAs to the sound card and forget about
the parallel port�

I know it's not a driver problem because I already had the PC working
fine, and upon the installation of Win95, before installing the drivers,
the sound card shows up in the Device Manager as an Unknown Device with
the same two DMA entries.
At the moment I have Win95 installed, and since I prefer to have the
parallel port working, I disabled the sound card from the hardware
profile. Can anyone help? I tried to set the default values for the
BIOS, but it didn't help. By the way, can anyone tell me what are the
correct values for the BIOS? I think the default values I set are the
ones for a standard NoteBIOS, but not for the configuration of my PC.

Sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance.

Re: Weird problem

#572

Author: John Gilliver
Date: Tue, 07 Nov 2000 00:00

24 lines
2587 bytes

cazevedo (cazevedo_98@yahoo.com) wrote:
[]
: I know it's not a driver problem because I already had the PC working
: fine, and upon the installation of Win95, before installing the drivers,
: the sound card shows up in the Device Manager as an Unknown Device with
: the same two DMA entries.
[]
1. Soundcards often _are_ two devices (well, actually, four: the MIDI player,
the .WAV device, the joystick or game port, and one other I forget ATM). I'm
not sure if they take two DMAs though.

2. If you get Unknown Device and you know it's a device that should be known
[or is that Known (-:?], in general it's better to _remove_ it before
rebooting to find the device. (Sorry if you were already doing this.)
Otherwise you can end up with the Unknown Device _as well as_ the proper one.

(Just remembered what the fourth device a soundcard is is: the MIDI _input_
device, sometimes IIRR shown as something like MPU401.)
--
(Amend return address when replying.)
-- 
J. P. Gilliver                          |  Tel: +44 1245 242133
England, United Kingdom.                | Email: john.gilliver [] baesystems.com
                                        | (replace "[]" with "@")

Thread Navigation

This is a paginated view of messages in the thread with full content displayed inline.

Messages are displayed in chronological order, with the original post highlighted in green.

Use pagination controls to navigate through all messages in large threads.

Back to All Threads